Topic: Norway abolishes state sponsored church

[Shibboleth]

Happy Syttende Mai. If the horribleness of Aquavit doesn't convince you there is no God nothing will.

[Neon Genesis]

I think there's actually merit in putting down 'atheist' or some variation thereof, rather than 'n/a' because people only tend to take things seriously if there is a label attached. A couple years ago I moved to a different city in Germany and when I registered my new residence, I was asked my religion. I answered 'none' because atheism isn't a religion. They put me down as 'other', so for statistical purposes I was added to the same column as a Sikh, Hindu or some other (for local purposes) fringe group.

It also helps separates the people who actually don't believe in any gods from the spiritual but not religious camp which could include anything from non-church going Jesus fans to New Age hippies.

[Zabulon]

Also on your Wikipedia link it says Norway has a Christian population of 30% to 89.9%...that's too big a range to be accurate in my opinion.

The 7% in Norway are probably the people who actively care about the subject, which doesn't catch all or even most of the people who don't have religious beliefs.

My personal opinion and experience on the matter, is that people who say that they are "christian" in Norway, usually mean it in the sense that they observe some christian traditions - like baptizing their children, going to church every once in a while on the holidays, getting married in the church and so on. Of all my friends and acquaintances, I can only really think of a single one who's actively religious - and he's a bit kooky.

My view is that in regard to people below 50 years of age, most don't really care about the subject, some label themselves as "spiritual", some as "agnostic" and some as "atheist".

My family is entirely non-religious - at least the members I know well and have contact with regularly.